The Mentoring Continuum

Types of Mentoring

Informal mentoring relationships develop on their own, such as when a person approaches a possible mentor and that person agrees to form a mentoring relationship.

Formal mentoring relationships refers to assigned relationships, in which the organization oversees and guides the mentoring program in order to promote employee development.

Note that this does not mean it is all black and white, rather it is more gray, such as a continuum with formal mentoring on one end and informal on the other end. For example, an organization may guide and oversee a mentoring program, in addition to providing learning opportunities to both the mentors and , but may not assign the relationships.

Limitations on formal mentoring programs include the small number of mentoring relationships they can support and accommodate may lead to dissatisfaction with the relationship and negative feelings of those not involved with the program (DeSimone, Werner 2012). As far as the mentor and protègè relationship, Chao, Walz, and Gardner (1992) found that protègès in informal relationships received more career-related advice and had better career outcomes, while Tepper (1995) found no difference.

These two types of mentoring can further be divided into two forms:

Traditional Mentoring in which there is a long-term relationship where a mentor guides the protègè's career.

Special Project Mentoring in which a mentor helps to guide a protègè's short-term project (normally lasting a few weeks to a few months).

In addition, mentoring programs can be internal, where it is developed and managed inside of the organization, or external (developed on the outside). And like other forms, it can also be a hybrid combination of the two.

Boomerang or Reverse Mentoring

Mentors often get as much out of the mentoring relationship as the protègès. For example, the mentor is giving advice to the protègè and it has a boomerang effect (Dickinson, Jankot, & Gracon, 2009)—the act of expressing an idea gives the mentor an insight into a problem. Often the mere process of formally expressing a thought, concept, or idea gives the person a clearer vision, thus comes away with a new understanding.

This also works the other way—the protègè expresses a thought, idea, or concept and gives you a new insight. Thus the mentoring process is a two-way learning process.